Ways to prevent or minimize loose skin?

[LA_lady 50]

I am 29 yrs old, 230lbs. Surgery is in 2 weeks. I am hoping since I am young(er) that the loose skin won't be so bad.

I figured the slower I lose the weight the better it will be for my skin but that's probably not something I have control of. Any suggestions to prevent or minimize loose skin? Lotions? Techniques? Etc?

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[OKCPirate 5,323]

Water, Protein and good genes are the most important. Minimize sun, stay out of tanning beds. Also no hot tubbing and keep the temp down on showers and baths for the period of rapid weight loss. There aren't any magic lotions, but I do use a moisturizer to keep my skin as healthy as possible. Your skin is your largest organ, so make it happy anyway.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

@@LA_lady

Have you ever watched skin tight on TLC? They have people on there that lost weight without surgery slowly, and their skin is still a disater. Fast or slow it doesn't matter your skin is going to do what it wants. At 230lbs you will probably snapback without much issue. Take @@OKCPirate and I will add that body peels, exfoliation and high quality moisturizers don't hurt.

[miss_smiles 192]

So I started at 240 lbs, am 5 ft 4 inch, 26 yrs old and down to 189 lbs. The loose skin isn't that bad, I feel i notice it more than others. Its just around my underarms, stomach and thighs. But I have been going to the gym every day, taking my Vitamins, drinking lots of Water, and also applying skin firming lotion (like jergens or nivea) with a few drops of Vitamin E oil a couple times of week after the shower. Doing all of these things for me has definitely helped (i remember a few years back I had lost weight and my skin wasn't as tight as it is now). There is really no way to completely avoid it, but you can do these things to make it better. I have another 40 pounds to go, after that I will decide whether or not skin removal surgery is necessary, which is always an option.

[LA_lady 50]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I am hoping it will be minimal.

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[erp 2,016]

So I started at 240 lbs, am 5 ft 4 inch, 26 yrs old and down to 189 lbs. The loose skin isn't that bad, I feel i notice it more than others. Its just around my underarms, stomach and thighs. But I have been going to the gym every day, taking my Vitamins, drinking lots of Water, and also applying skin firming lotion (like jergens or nivea) with a few drops of Vitamin E oil a couple times of week after the shower. Doing all of these things for me has definitely helped (i remember a few years back I had lost weight and my skin wasn't as tight as it is now). There is really no way to completely avoid it, but you can do these things to make it better. I have another 40 pounds to go, after that I will decide whether or not skin removal surgery is necessary, which is always an option.

^^^this^^^ plus time. Each year out from surgery, my skin gets better.

[Stillmissing 35]

My doctor suggested yoga. He said the skin will stretch during yoga but that when you relax, and the skin goes back it goes back tighter. I have only done it for a week so I haven't noticed anything yet, but it's worth a shot.

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[jess9395 5,448]

My doctor suggested yoga. He said the skin will stretch during yoga but that when you relax, and the skin goes back it goes back tighter. I have only done it for a week so I haven't noticed anything yet, but it's worth a shot.

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Bwahahahaha!!!!

Sorry. I've done yoga 3-5 hours a week since three months out. Like serious yoga. Like yoga arms muscles. Never did a thing for my skin, though the muscles filled out some of the space the far left behind. I can't even begin to understand how yoga could possibly impact skin. And I'm a yoga freak. You don't stretch skin during yoga, you stretch muscles, fascia and connective tissue.

Also did all the lotions and potions, collagen, Vitamin D, bio oil and Vitamin E oil; drank tons of Water and got all my Protein in. Took Biotin and keratin and Vitamin A and E.

You know what helps? Genetics, age, ethnicity, how many times you've yo-yo'd, how heavy you were and for how long. Time helps too. Skin will "come back" once you stop losing. How much depends on the things above.

And surgery. A year out and six months at goal I had surgery.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

My doctor suggested yoga. He said the skin will stretch during yoga but that when you relax, and the skin goes back it goes back tighter. I have only done it for a week so I haven't noticed anything yet, but it's worth a shot.

Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Bwahahahaha!!!!

Sorry. I've done yoga 3-5 hours a week since three months out. Like serious yoga. Like yoga arms muscles. Never did a thing for my skin, though the muscles filled out some of the space the far left behind. I can't even begin to understand how yoga could possibly impact skin. And I'm a yoga freak. You don't stretch skin during yoga, you stretch muscles, fascia and connective tissue.

Also did all the lotions and potions, collagen, Vitamin D, bio oil and Vitamin E oil; drank tons of Water and got all my Protein in. Took Biotin and keratin and Vitamin A and E.

You know what helps? Genetics, age, ethnicity, how many times you've yo-yo'd, how heavy you were and for how long. Time helps too. Skin will "come back" once you stop losing. How much depends on the things above.

And surgery. A year out and six months at goal I had surgery.

You just said yoga stretches the fascia, which is connected to the skin just under the skin. You can definitely improve your skin with yoga. Yoga helps drain the lymphatic system which helps with skin also.

[jess9395 5,448]

My doctor suggested yoga. He said the skin will stretch during yoga but that when you relax, and the skin goes back it goes back tighter. I have only done it for a week so I haven't noticed anything yet, but it's worth a shot.

Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Bwahahahaha!!!!

Sorry. I've done yoga 3-5 hours a week since three months out. Like serious yoga. Like yoga arms muscles. Never did a thing for my skin, though the muscles filled out some of the space the far left behind. I can't even begin to understand how yoga could possibly impact skin. And I'm a yoga freak. You don't stretch skin during yoga, you stretch muscles, fascia and connective tissue.

Also did all the lotions and potions, collagen, Vitamin D, bio oil and Vitamin E oil; drank tons of Water and got all my Protein in. Took Biotin and keratin and vitamin A and E.

You know what helps? Genetics, age, ethnicity, how many times you've yo-yo'd, how heavy you were and for how long. Time helps too. Skin will "come back" once you stop losing. How much depends on the things above.

And surgery. A year out and six months at goal I had surgery.

You just said yoga stretches the fascia, which is connected to the skin just under the skin. You can definitely improve your skin with yoga. Yoga helps drain the lymphatic system which helps with skin also.

I would love to see some studies that support that. I truly would. I just tried to google and couldn't find anything.

When you stretch the fascia (which doesn't happen automatically with yoga when you stretch the muscles, you have to actually actively manipulate the fascia, typically with a block or ball or a foam roller) it doesn't snap back smaller and thus tighten any skin.

Skin gets stretched and the structure is broken down. Collagen builds both skin and fascia and perhaps there is the connection, but stretching fascia loosens muscles underneath it doesn't tighten skin on top.

Again, I can see how draining the lymphatic system assists with body recomposition, but I don't see how it can fix torn and broken down skin collagen and structures.

I would love to be proven wrong by some studies... I think yoga is one of the best things you can do for your body! I just, sadly, find all the evidence points to things out of our control for skin stretching. Any my own anecdotal experience bears that out. So without peer reviewed studies, I can find as many people to say it didn't help them as people who say it did.

Please explain the science to me. My daughter has been advised to only do very limited amounts of yoga in very specific ways because of her collagen issues, so those studies show it hurts more than it helps skin or connective tissue with damaged or deficient collagen. Look up Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

[ravensekhmet 12]

Good luck we are around the same statistics I'm 31 at 230 pounds surgery in 2 months hopefully. I'm hoping the skin Issue isn't to bad

[jess9395 5,448]

You young un's in the low 200's shouldn't have any problems!

[glitter eyes 1,398]

I agree with @@jess9395 -the young people should have a much better chance of their skin snapping back.

I lost a lot of weight in my early thirties and my skin snapped back beautifully. Now at 44 after losing all my weight what has helped me is to lay on my back and tuck all the loose skin behind me- instantly fixed. LOL. Seriously plastics will be my only cure for the saggy state of my skin. Hey- I look good with clothes on.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

@@jess9395

Unless you have access to yourself in a different time line or alternative universe, you have no idea if yoga didn't help you, because you have started doing it since 3 months.

You would need your alternative self that never did it to make a comparison or come to the conclusion that it didn't help you. Just because your skin isn't tight as you would like doesn't mean you didn't benefit.

[jess9395 5,448]

@@jess9395

Unless you have access to yourself in a different time line or alternative universe, you have no idea if yoga didn't help you, because you have started doing it since 3 months.

You would need your alternative self that never did it to make a comparison or come to the conclusion that it didn't help you. Just because your skin isn't tight as you would like doesn't mean you didn't benefit.

Fair enough. However I would still like to see some studies that show it helps or even some articles that explain the logic behind how it might help. I searched and searched and even found article that said we don't stretch fascia at all. I found nothing that even suggested yoga or fascial release does anything for skin.